IBMC restructures its information systems architecture with Siemon cabling
The Instituto de Biologica Molecular e Celular (IBMC) (Institute for Molecular and Cellular Biology), a branch of the University of Porto, is a premier global research facility, focusing on the molecular and cellular biology fields. To further improve its ability to efficiently handle and secure growing research and operations data management requirements the IBMC decided to undertake the complete restructuring of its information systems architecture. The upgrade would optimise the technological infrastructure providing support to critical research areas as well as improve the institute's overall operations, helping manage and coordinate the efforts of 25 multidisciplinary teams formed by almost 400 researchers.
"The IBMC is a research entity whose aim is to consolidate knowledge in the field of molecular and cellular biology for which purpose it is essential to have an efficient, reliable information management system", explains José Luís Sousa, Head of IBMC's Information Systems. "Through this renovation process, the institute will have a reliable information systems platform that is able to guarantee greater efficiency at organisational level and the confidential treatment of the data analysed".
To respond to the Institute's needs, it was necessary to develop a functional architecture capable of supporting very dynamic information requirements: it was of vital importance to meets both current needs and retain optimum flexibility for potential future requirements. Within this context, the choice of the cabling network for supporting the organisation's information systems was a key factor. The IBMC decided to renovate its cabling infrastructure by enlisting the services of Siemon, a leading firm in the global structured cabling market and a pioneer in 10Gb/s solutions.
The new installation would replace IBCM's shielded category 5e cabling plant. This cabling system suffered great difficulties in supporting the institute's data transmission needs - constant transmission errors led to significant transfer delays and bottlenecks.
IBMC decided to base its information systems infrastructure on Siemon category 6 UTP and category 7 (S/FTP) copper cables, which offered performance levels well beyond Category 5 systems. It was decided to install category 6 horizontal cabling to support 1Gb/s and 10Gb/s category 7 in the backbone.
Unlike the 100 MHz supplied by category 5, category 6 offers significant margins in support of 1Gb/s covering the entire range of frequencies up to 250 MHz.
In the backbone, IBMC understood that the arrival of the 10GBASE-T 10Gb/s Ethernet standard as specified in IEEE 802.3an requires cabling with a minimum bandwidth of 500 MHz. Siemon's category 7A TERA solution supports a bandwidth of up to 1,200 MHz, providing 10GBASE-T performance with significant headroom for future speed increases.
Category 7A offers greater adaptation capacity in the event of future changes. This means that the new backbone cabling installed will be able to provide service during a period of 10-15 years and support 4 or 5 technological upgrades, thereby affording greater peace of mind in the face of an increase in the information management volumes forecast by the institute during the next few years.
The standards-specified connectors for category 7A TERA (IEC 61076-3-104) involve no greater difficulty than installing the category 6 UTP, with only the typical difference between a shielded solution and an UTP solution. Insofar as ground connections are concerned, this is extremely simple: if the ground connection has been mounted on a rack based on the country's electrical requirements and following the recommendations of the equipment manufacturer, all that is necessary is to join each panel to the rack with a 2.5 mm ground wire. .
In sum, installing the new Category 6 and Category 7 cabling system makes it possible to implement present and future data applications with greater speeds by offering a greater bandwidth and improved transmission characteristics compared to the former IBMC system.
One should also take into account that in addition to the system quality, the quality of the installation service is also essential in order to obtain the best possible performance. Siemon offers its clients advice and technical support directly and through its Certified Installers to enable them to achieve this service quality. In this case the operation was carried out by the installer QI, a collaborator of Comstore, the official Siemon distributor in Portugal, with wide experience in cabling and network infrastructure. The installation was executed without interrupting the routine of the institute, which at all times maintained its working pace during the installation process, with all the complications that this type of process involves. The experience and training of the installation experts made it possible for users to continue working without being aware of the changes taking place in the network and without suffering any negative consequences such as stopping of the system, transmission problems etc.
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